RALEIGH — 19:35 Booming one-timer from Staal in the left facoff circle off a pass from Ray Whitney, but Thomas came up with the juggling save.

17:11: The Bruins have been playing with fire for the last few minutes and they finally got burned. Shane Hnidy was beat to a puck in the corner by Matt Cullen, peeled off him and allowed him to get the net after he passed the puck and then Scott Walker found him in front. Thomas poked the puck away, but Cullen recovered and flipped a backhand past Thomas.

There was a scrum minute or two after the goal, and PJ Axelsson looked a little shaken up afterward. Keep an eye on that.

Things just turned up a notch physically. Erik Cole dumped Chara back behind the play with the Bruins moving the puck up the ice.

12:37: The Bruins have settled things down a little. A nice sequence there where Montador and Wideman were having trouble getting the puck out of the zone with speed, so Bergeron came back to help the B’s move the puck swiftly through the neutral zone.

12:36: Great neutral zone pass by Byron Bitz to a rushing David Krejci, but the nifty centerman couldn’t control the puck and shake his defender for a shot.

11″07: That was a big time play. Milan Lucic picked up the puck around the blue line and dangled through Tuomo Ruuto, Jussi Jokinen and Joni Pitkanen before dishing to a wide open Marc Savard at the right faceoff dot. Savard banged it into the open net, and the B’s have answered the Canes challenge again.

9:00: Quick glove save on Scott Walker after a testing bid from the right faceoff dot.

5:49: Interference call on Pat Eaves when he dumped Axelsson in front of the Carolina net. First PP for the Bruins. The Cainiacs are sitting down with hands folded, and are pretty quiet right now.

5:30: Big time save by Thomas on Cullen during a short-handed rush when Wideman turned the puck over from the left point.

4:18: Big glove save by Ward on a Kessel snap shot on his trademark curl and drag move from the left side boards.

3:37: Wideman just hit a left post on a blast from the right faceoff circle after Kessel had rushed the puck up the ice. That was a full wind up and blast from Wideman that beat Ward cleanly.

1:57: Another score. Bergeron carried the puck down low in the Canes end and then fired a shot in front of the net just as Kobasew reached the post. Kobasew tucked the puck between Ward’s pads for his third goal of the playoffs.

00:33: Mick Colageo of the New Bedford Times keeps calling Byron Bitz a “Young Man’s Knuble” and I can’t disagree. Bitz draws a penalty behind the net as Anton Babchuk basically hog-tied him to get the puck away from him. Somehow I don’t see Blake Wheeler drawing a penalty like that behind the Boston net.

The Bruins are beating the Hurricanes by a 4-1 score after two full periods during Game 6 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C.